This catapulted us right into the $140,000+ range, and makes me wonder: what if we raised $150,000 by the end of this fundraiser, which — after matching — would bring us to $300,000? That would be unbelievable in the very best way.

To everyone at Specialized who worked on promoting and donating to this project: thank you for your generosity and passion to make this ambitious fundraising project succeed. I was already a fan of your bikes; now I’m a fan of your company.

This is it: the last day before the end of the contest that I’ll be posting about Grand Slam 2 for Zambia (although you can continue to donate right up through midnight on Christmas eve to be eligible for any of the prizes in the contest).

For this post, I really just want to say thank you.

And I’m not the only one who wants to thank you, either.

The Hammer, my 1617-year-old son, and I made a slide show of our trip to Zambia last night as a reminder of what we’ve seen and the good you have done (and continue to do!) by helping us with this Bicycle Relief project.

I recommend watching it all the way through (by the way, it looks best if you watch it nice and big over on Vimeo) — the last minute is a video of a really fantastic speech made by one of the students at the Nanswisa Basic School, expressing gratitude for these bikes.

Note that the beautiful singing in the soundtrack for this video also came from the children at the Nanswisa Basic School during the bike distribution ceremony.

A Thank You Poem

For those of you who were wondering whether there would ever be another “Free Verse Friday,” well, today there is. But this isn’t the normal self-consciously horribly bad poem in the style I write.

No.

This is a poem that was written by the children of Nanswisa Basic School and performed by them during the bike distribution ceremony, and is titled “Bicycle Relief, We Thank You.”

Never believe that a few caring peopleCannot change the worldFor indeed They are the only who ever have

We thank you

The real measure of our wealthIs how much we would be worthIf we get educatedThrough this educational offer

Bicycle ReliefBicycle ReliefWe thank you

We are never given a wishWithout also being given the powerTo make it come trueWe indeed wished for better educationAnd we have been empoweredThrough the education materialsThese white horses

Bicycle ReliefWe thank you

Gratitude unlocks the fulness of lifeIt turns what we haveInto enough and more

Oh we thank you!

Help is like snowThe softer it fallsThe longer it dwellsAnd the deeper it sinks into our mind!

We will now writeOur long sufferings of long distanceAnd less educational materials On the sandAnd write you good willOf making our education simpleOn a piece of marble

UPDATE: Even though we’ve crossed the goal, additional donations continue to get matched, dollar-for-dollar, through the end of the contest! Also, donations continue to count toward the contest right through December 24.

The generosity of you people is astonishing. And shows of generosity like this — more than a thousand people coming together to improve thousands of strangers’ lives in permanent, powerful ways — are especially wonderful to see in times like these, where the news is often too ugly to contemplate.

Congratulation on making & surpassing the goal. What a totally awesome accomplishment. Even if I don’t win anything, I’m so glad to have played a small part in this. The way you’ve mobilized people in the cycling community around this has been incredible. The cycling press should stop it’s endless (to a bit of an outsider) angst over the doping and celebrate what you have done here.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas & all that stuff to you and your family. You are certainly making a positive difference in this world!

gosh, I wonder if we push a little more over the weekend if we couldn’t end up with $300k for GS2fN – what w/ matching gifts and all?

I cannot wait to hear how many actual bikes will be presented next year, and how many actual mechanics will be benefited! (yes, quantifying this way isn’t strictly necessary, but it is so fascinating to see what tangible items result from the $$s).

Elden, I belong to a church that believes very strongly in missions. For a long time we have sent people to far off places hoping to make a spiritual difference in other’s lives. Your video is one of the best presentations of people making a difference that I’ve even seen.

I am proud of you and your family. I am proud of what all contributors have done to provide a different life for these people. They will experience an educational, financial, and social transformation that will reap benefits for generations.

I noticed how engaged Brice was. Good for him! That kind of involvement changes us much as the bicycle recipients.

That your girl wrote and delivered a better speech than I would have expected in any school in America. Elden, you have done a good thing. Thank you for showing us how.

There always has to be at least negative comment in the mix (re The Cyclist). Not sure where The Cyclist has been but I seem to remember quite a few cycling blog posts in the mix this year. I’ve enjoyed the mix of fundraising and cycling bloggery this year. I don’t think you need to change the name of the blog at all…well, except you’re not fat. Not even chubby. :)

Awesome job on raising SO much to provide bikes for a very worthy organization!

Mele Kalikimaka and Happy New Year from the balmy northern climes of Alaska (we are qt 17 deg – a much welcome temp climb from the subzero and single digit temps we’ve had for several weeks).

Merry Christmas to all, hope you got what you were asking for and that my name is drawn before yours :)
Major props to Fatty and all who contributed toward CRUSHING the goal of $125k, best Christmas I can remember and is attirbuted to the feeling after helping the Zambia community!

My 14 year old daughter just gave me some of her xmas money to donate. Isn’t that cool? I wonder what I’ll spend it on? (joking)

Fatty, I remember talking to you at one of the rides this year about how in the summer you have lots of stuff to write about but no time to do it. And, in the winter, lots of time, but nothing to write about? How about writing about some of the stuff that happened last summer that you didn’t have time for then?